For background reading, see these two sources on General Defence Committees from the more applicable IWW in the USA and the slightly more aspirational CNT in revolutionary Catalonia

https://libcom.org/article/building-working-class-defense-organizations-interview-twin-cities-gdc

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/agustin-guillamon-the-cnt-defense-committees-in-barcelona-1933-1938

What is a Neighbourhood Defence Committee?

The idea behind a Neighbourhood Defence Committee is to try and take existing elements of grassroots organising and activism and shape them into a more powerful and better organised local force that is based on prefigurative politics. The aim here is to not only make the defence of working class communities more effective but also provide a basis for not just fighting back but building beyond capitalism by creating a concrete example of self-organised community self defence that's accountable to and a part of working class community.

In the short term, the aims are to resist immigration raids, resists arrests, searches and general incursion of police into working class neighbourhoods, defend picket lines from intimidation, fighting far right organising, recruitment and terror.

All of these things are done in some way or another at the minute but being done in a disconnected way prevents them from being done as strongly as possible and leads to people viewing efforts less as one wide struggle connected by principles of anti authoritarianism, anti capitalism and working class autonomy and more as single issues that happen to overlap at times.

The aim is break these efforts away from "activists" who largely operate separate from the communities they may be naturally allied and often have few links, accountability and control from communities most affected by the forces activists fight against. By providing a basis for communication and decision making between activists who may be better versed in specific forms of confrontation and working class communities we can create genuine dual power, where working class people can directly organise alternatives to policing and build a foundation from which we can organise for revolution as opposed to survival.

In concrete terms, this is building an mass assembly that regularly meets that co-ordinates the efforts of those who agree to be trained in best practice in responding to a variety of communal self defence scenarios.

In practice this means there is a single structure that has a certain degree of separation between two groupings, those who may go out and take the action of community self defence, for example removing fascists from a neighbourhood where they are spreading propaganda or responding to an immigration raid by blocking the van and the second grouping of people who may not take action themselves but, as members of the community impacted by both reactionaries and also impacted by any actions done in the name of self defence deserve a say in either critiquing, questioning or directing the actionists.

The hope is that there is little separation in these groupings, however there is a use for not being one grouping with no division. If actionists do things that are either illegal or create a situation in which they could face strong repercussions, it's important that the NDC itself is understood to not be one with actionists but is merely an advisory board for anyone who might choose to take action. In this way an affinity group of actionists could send a delegate or have information from an assembly passed on to them or vice versa.

This also prevents the assemblies from tightening under pressure from authorities, for example if more serious criminal action had been done, a subsequent raid on the assembly shouldn't find actionists who would not have a physical presence but would still receive advice and guidance from the NDC.

Practical Ideas/Process

Find a space that can be used cheaply/for free and is accommodating for radical politics, ideally situated in a working class area specifically and firmly in the neighbourhood you organise in, no one should leave their neighbourhood to organise their neighbourhood. This, in London is really simply a nightmare to do, a massive amount of community spaces have either been shut down or are at/over capacity for bookings.

Finding a physical space is incredibly important despite it's difficulty, in my experience having a space that serves as a "hub" and regular meeting place gives a sense of stability and rootedness to a community project that is hard to otherwise attain.

Nucleus session

Ideally this type of project shouldn't be attempted without a handful of committed organisers who live locally and aim to stay in the area for the foreseeable future - why would people want to organise along side people who have no ties to the local area beyond the next year! Obviously there's no magic number, but there really shouldn't be less than 4-5 people ready to commit to the project to begin.

The conditions for an area to set up a neighbourhood defence committee vary but generally, it’s ideal if an area has pre-existing activist groups focused on antifascism, anti raids and cop watching. The aim is that there are a number of individuals organised into pre-existing groups ready to respond to call-outs and put boots on the ground in the event of a raid, arrest or fascist organising.

These things aren't required, and often outside of London and other major cities with a large left wing scene these won't either be present at all or all be present, here it would be important to look at other groups that do exist and trying to assess their practical use, are there trade union networks that do or could respond rapidly to callouts if need be,

Organisers should poster around the area advertising for a meeting to set up a group in the area focused on anti fascism, anti raids and organising against the police. This should be aimed at pre-existing radicals who live in the area to build a nucleus from which stage 2 can start; this isn't exclusive, no one should be turned away for not being a super soldier hardcore lefty, it's more about generally focusing on building a foundation that will be easier to start from than immediately trying to reach the general public without all the local organisers who would gladly chip in if they were aware of your plans.

The meeting should lay out the ideas behind a neighbourhood defence committee, some ideas for how it should be structured and respond to any questions people may have as well as sourcing contacts in the area of locals and activists.

Once the first meeting takes place, the organisers should be organised into the first instance of the Neighbourhood Defence Committee - it’s important that the group of pre-existing radicals doesn’t remain distinct from the defence committee. This stage is mainly just about doing three things.

1 - to make sure there are strong links with the useful elements of left wing activism who can provide boots on the ground when needed.

2 - to make sure that the group has a radical foundation, meaning reactionary ideas can’t take hold and co-opting by political parties or others such as NGOs can be avoided. This can partially be done by drawing up a firm platform that any member should have to agree upon based on an opposition to divisive attitudes and an agreement for members to be independent, no one is a delegate of Socialist Appeal, just individuals.

3 - Most importantly it’s just to provide a number of people who can actively recruit, flyer and poster to build the committee in stage 2.

Stage 2

The most important day will be holding an open assembly in the area of organising. It’s incredibly important that intensive flyering and outreach happens for this, this should be done by the nucleus and outside activists offering support. To focus on effective recruitment, working class estates, tower blocks and gathering spots such as cafs, pubs, bars and community centres should be flyered.

This outreach should happen for well over a month intensively depending on how many organisers are committed to helping.

At the meeting, a presentation should explain what a Neighbourhood Defence Committee is and explain why it’s needed and how it can work by creating Dual Power. Principles such as anti racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, sexism should be explained - specifically providing explanations as to why these divisive narratives need to be got rid of in order to organise to benefit everyone effectively.

The second part of the meeting should be aimed at mapping the area - where are hotspots for raids, police activity and/or the far right. As well as this, the structure should be explained for how locals can decide what actions take place and how assemblies can interact with affinity groups. Examples should be given as to when a callout should be given and group chats should be set up for urgent call-outs only and also for info sharing on a non urgent basis.